Catch Hell
Directed by	Ryan Phillippe
Written by	Ryan Phillippe Joe Gassett
Produced by	Ryan Phillippe Robert Ogden Barnum Holly Wiersma
Starring	Ryan Phillippe Tig Notaro
Cinematography	Steve Gainer
Edited by	Matt Landon
Music by	The Newton Brothers
Production company	Twisted Pictures
Distributed by	Entertainment One
Release date	October 10, 2014 (2014-10-10)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Catch Hell (also known as Chained or as Kidnapped) is a 2014 American thriller film written and directed by Ryan Phillippe. It is the only non-horror film from Twisted Pictures.

Synopsis

A faded Hollywood actor is kidnapped and subjected to both physical and psychological torture.^[1]

Plot

Washed-up Hollywood actor Reagan Pierce arrives in Louisiana for the filming of the movie 'Flashpoint'. He meets with the director in a hotel lobby, getting interrupted by fans for photos, and feels antsy about the director. Later he heads to the gym. People constantly stare at him in an unsettling way. He calls his manager, not wanting to do the movie. The manager pressures him.

The next morning, a van pulls up as he walks out of the hotel. Assuming it is there for him, he gets in. Reagan doesn't know which number to call to check on the rehearsal, so he asks the passengers. Junior, the front passenger, offers to dial the number for him, so Reagan hands him his cell phone. Junior does not hand it back when asked. The van stops in front of a shack in the middle of nowhere. The driver, Mike, pulls Reagan out of the van and beats him until he passes out.

Reagan wakes up in the shack, chained to the wall. The men dump his belongings. Reagan tries to offer Mike a million dollars in ransom. Mike says he does not care about money, cuts Reagan's face with a knife, and says his wife is Diana. Reagan says he doesn't know her. Mike threatens to maim him with bolt cutters, but Junior reminds him that he wanted Reagan alive for a while. Mike breaks Reagan's hands and knocks him out again.

Reagan comes to with his hand bandaged. Junior, agitated, says they thought he was dead. He gives Reagan an oxy pill for pain. Mike returns and tries to get Reagan to remember Diana, who worked in wardrobe on one of his movies. Reagan says he doesn't remember, but would never sleep with another man's wife anyway. Mike asks for his phone password and pulls up texts with Diana. Junior finds nude photos of Reagan's actress ex-girlfriend on the phone, and a nude of Reagan. Mike breaks into Reagan's laptop with the password.

The next morning, Mike says that he sent the nudes to the media and announces it is time to feed the gators. He goes into a room with a hole in the floor and defecates into the swamp below. He posts an anti-Semitic message via Reagan's Twitter account. Mike says that he wants to destroy Reagan's reputation before killing him and tells Reagan to re-record his phone voicemail message. Reagan reads it and tells him, "It's weak, no one talks that way". He records a ranting, anti-Semitic message asking everyone not to call him. The media report that he is going crazy.

Mike praises him for the message and reveals he was a cop who lost his badge for domestic abuse. He asks Reagan how he hooked up with his wife. Reagan says he gave her a ride home from work and listened about her abusive husband before they had sex. He tells Mike that she said her husband could never give her an orgasm. Mike tases him. Junior arrives, and Mike leaves. Junior finds Reagan bloodied, with a tooth pulled out. Junior puts the tooth into his pocket.

Reagan wakes up to a gator by his face. Junior, on top of the gator, says he saved Reagan's life after the gator entered the shack. Junior shoots and skins the gator and reports to Mike that Reagan's still alive. Reagan asks to piss. Junior unhooks him from the wall, leaving his hands tied, and takes him to the floor in the hole. Reagan considers jumping in, but doesn't. He suggests to Junior that Mike might turn on Junior and kill him, as he is the only witness.

The next day, Junior grills gator meat and takes Reagan outside, chained, for some sun. He does some chin-ups while looking at Reagan, then masturbates in the shack. Mike says he is at work, establishing his alibi, and should return around 1:30 am. Junior asks about his own alibi. Mike says he doesn't need one. Mike visits Diana, now his ex-wife, and claims he is not a violent man anymore. She says she will think about letting him see the kids.

Junior tells Reagan that he loves his movies and that Reagan should take care of himself to look younger. Reagan compliments Junior, who is flattered. In the news, the media questions Reagan's tweet and surveillance footage of him getting into the van. The voicemail message he recorded is actually a verbatim quote from a movie in which he played a kidnapped soldier. The police begin to look for him.

Junior gives Reagan gator meat and compliments him. Reagan flirts with him. While Junior isn't looking, Reagan moves part of his chain under his leg. Junior asks if he has experience with a dude. Reagan says if he is drunk enough, he is down for anything. Junior gives him whiskey and starts kissing his neck. Reagan freaks out. Junior is upset, but says it is all right because he 'roofied' [drugged] the gator stew and just has to wait. Reagan seems to pass out from the drug. Junior is about to rape Reagan when the phone rings. Reagan head-butts Junior and strangles him with the chain before passing out.

Mike sees online that the authorities are looking for his van. He panics and drives over to Junior's mother's house, looking for Junior. Reagan wakes up to a gator snapping at and carrying away Junior. Reagan struggles free and leaves the shack. He finds a car with keys, but the car doesn't start. Mike arrives by boat, the roads now flooded, and sees Junior's body at the edge of the water. He searches the shack before seeing Reagan. Reagan shoots Mike with a spear gun, then beats him to death.

In an interview, Reagan says that after the kidnappers died, he had to wait until morning for rescue, as there were alligators around. Reagan returns home and receives a call from his manager, who says that his interview received amazing views and that everybody wants him in their movies.

That night, Reagan looks at his emails and sees one from Junior, apologizing for the way they met but reminding him that there was some good in it. Attached to the email is a video Junior took with Reagan's phone. The video shows Reagan on the cot and Junior dancing with the alligator skin on his back. Junior and Reagan are laughing in the video.

Cast

• Ryan Phillippe as Reagan Pearce
• Ian Barford as Mike
• Stephen Louis Grush as Reginald 'Junior' Hester Jr.
• Tig Notaro as Careen Hester
• Russ Russo as Tim Remmit
• James DuMont as Tony Cunningham
• Joyful Drake as Diane
• Ray Wood as Butch
• Carol Sutton as Delores
• Heidi Brook Myers as Rhonda
• Jillian Barberie as herself
• Michael Boyne as Howard Kyle (uncredited)
• Forrest Forte as David (uncredited)

Development

The film was first announced in 2012, as Ryan Phillippe's directional debut under the title Shreveport. It was financed by producer Mark Burg through his Twisted Pictures label, and it was filmed in Louisiana.^[2][3]

The new title Catch Hell was confirmed on July 17, 2014. It was distributed by Entertainment One Films.^[4] The trailer was released on July 31, 2014.^[5]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 3.81/10.^[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 40 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[7]

Movie Nation called it "nothing more than the sort of exploitation film that Reagan Pearce has signed onto, in desperation, one that he and we realize will be no game changer for the movie star on screen or the one behind the camera."^[8] Slant Magazine awarded it one out of five stars, saying "Phillippe never digs into Pearce as a person, or ponders the solitary nature of the actor's lifestyle, and the effect, which lasts right up until the inevitable and self-serving conclusion in which Pearce's career is resuscitated in the wake of all the media coverage surrounding his disappearance, is that he's kept at a distance from the audience"^[9] The New York Times said "But a certain curiosity value arises out of Mr. Phillippe's coincidental occupation here as a professional actor and a director."^[1] We Got This Covered said, "I'm not saying I'll ever know what it feels like to be scrutinized by every gossipy website and television show, but Catch Hell is a failed attempt to help audiences understand the trials and tribulations of actors forced into an obsessive limelight."^[10] The Village Voice was more positive, saying "Catch Hell might not catapult Phillippe back into the spotlight, but as Junior, Grush is by turns ashamed, bashful, and dangerous; he could perhaps do more if given the chance."^[11]

References

External links

• Catch Hell at IMDb